Allentown wrestling rolls past Ewing

UPPER FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — If the Allentown High School wrestling team is going to make its mark later in the season, it will need contributions from all of its weight classes. During today’s 69-9 victory over Ewing, the Redbirds received some hints that a few competitors that struggled at the beginning of the campaign are beginning to come around.

Stephen “Rocky” Alpaugh (113), who began the season 1-7, rallied from a 4-1 deficit to pin the Blue Devils’ Johnny Prieto. This came just a few moments after 285-pounder Andrew Bliss, who started out 0-4, won his fifth straight with a pin of Myles Lightner.

Mainstays Jake Koch (170), Tom O’Shaughnessy (220), Jordan Rugo (126) and Jack Giglia (132) also earned pins, but at 3-1 Allentown is at a crossroads, a good team that understands that there is a lot of work to be done if it is to be great.

“We just have to listen to our coaches and stick with the game plan,” said Koch, a senior who would like to pursue a career in mechanical engineering in the Army and needed only five seconds to take the lead for good in his match. “My goal is to get better and better everyday, not to look too far ahead.”

A football player who skipped his senior season on the gridiron in order to devote all of his time to wrestling, Koch has been a paragon in focus, dropping from 182 pounds down to a low of 160 this season. A member of Jackson’s Elite Wrestling Club, he is a leader by example, which also includes cheering on less-accomplished teammates like Alpaugh.

Not that anyone transcends Alpaugh in unselfishness. A center fielder on the Allentown High baseball team, Alpaugh was talked into going back out for wrestling this season by head coach Larry Kimport when the team had a void in the 113-pound weight class. After taking a year off from the sport, he expected to take his lumps, but was getting frustrated by a string of narrow defeats.

“Every match, I would get the other guy on his back,” said Alpaugh, “but I couldn’t finish.”

Today it appeared as if the script would be just as frustrating for the junior. It only took him 45 seconds to fall behind Prieto, and by the end of the first period, he was down 4-1.

But an early second-period reversal changed his luck, and this time he was able to finish the deal, to the delight of his teammates.

“They’ve helped me out a lot,” said Alpaugh. “They’ve taught me moves and told me not to worry too much when I lose. This time, I just kept my chest on his chest and kept my head up.”